Is summer officially over now that Labor Day weekend is behind us? Who knows? Maybe that good weather we had for this weekends weddings will hang around for a while. This past Saturday we were at Saratoga National for the seventh time this season and we still have one more to go! We really enjoy this venue and 7 weddings later for the 2009 season we can say that we know this place pretty well. So our bride & groom on this one is a blog favorite couple Jivon & Anthony. Back in May when I shot and posted their engagement session it became an immediate favorite between feedback in the comment window and on my facebook page. You viewers loved it so I hope we delivered with their wedding pics.

The day couldn’t have been nicer for real. Not a cloud in the sky or a threat of rain. Was I dreaming? Seriously its about time we had one of these carefree weekends. So arriving at Jivon’s parents home in Waterford we decided we’d work inside because their home was so beautiful and of course the light was right. Jivon’s dress sat upstairs in her bedroom where light was pouring in on it, such a nice scene. The ladies were in the salon I mean kitchen getting the last of their finishing touches put on and everything was just good. We had some fun photographing them and then it was off to St Mary’s Church in Waterford. You’ll see from the exterior shot of the church just how nice of a day it was. So Anthony and his boys showed up all slick and GQ and I captured one of my favorite guy shots of the season. The shot of them inside the church will most likely make our wall here in our office. I will say this groom seemed a bit nervous and Anthony don’t try to act like you weren’t either, I would have been too. The mass was great and the songs sung by April Marie were beautiful as always, (if anyone has her contact info leave it in the comment box below) find her if your looking for some killer vocals at your wedding. So something Jivon & Anthony did that quite a few couples have done lately is scheduled a little extra time in between the end of their ceremony and the beginning of their cocktail hour. It’s a very clever thing to do if you ask me. In result of that we got some sick shots out on the course and this couple didn’t miss their cocktail hour. By the looks of Angelo’s new tomato station I hope no one missed that cocktail hour. My pal Music Man DJ Mike Garrrasi had some serious party people at this wedding I guess the party went longer than it was originally scheduled for and I’m sure everyone partied long thereafter at random spots in Saratoga. This was also our first wedding shooting along side videographers Cheryl & Amanda of CASL Productions but it wouldn’t be long until we worked together again because they also shot the wedding on Sunday with us. Nice ladies, check em out. So as always we thank the bride & groom Jivon & Anthony and congratulate you both. Your wedding rocked guys, I hope Italy is treating you well.

Enjoy, leave love,
JP

Jivon looking ‘flawless’ while getting some finishing touches by Tina of Flawless by Tina.

Daylight at its best.

This room had some ridiculous light! It was like shooting in a studio.

This is a cool shot right here:

What a great spot.

She looks awesome.

That sky was as vivid as it looks.

This shot is just awesome!

You gotta love Dads face right here.

Fun little series…

At National.

Now onto some of my favorites of the couple.

How sweet is this color?

I really like this image. It’s so simple yet awesome.

My favorite of the day.

This ones pretty hot too though.

A wider view.

See the watch?

Yeah this is something you can’t even get yet. I don’t know how Jivon did it but she got Anthony a timepiece thats not even in the cases yet. Incase your wondering the date does say its the second, but lets cut Anthony a break since its new to him.

Remember this?

How bout this?

What an awesome cocktail hour.

All blog posts must end sometime. Enjoy a snap from their first dance.

Happy Labor Day everyone! As summer comes to an end and with all the fairs going on this is an appropriate engagement session to share with you all. Jamie and Eamon are have been dating for 10 years, these guys got together back in the eighth grade! A true love story right? Well as I said with all the fairs going on and what not I thought I must do an engagement session at one. I just knew all the colors and scenes would not disappoint and boy was I right. Sure we had to deal with the carnies and wow they’re a unique breed to say the least but all in all it was a kick ass session. I’m stoked to be shooting their wedding next year so in June of 2010 you’ll have to check back with me to see the pics, until then enjoy their engagement session and Happy Labor Day!

Enjoy, leave love,
JP

There’s nothing like the haze the food vendors create!

So walking thru the fair I found some bubbles…

Bubbles really do rock in that good good light.

Nothing in life is free folks. I had to take care of my man to keep the bubbles going.

Fact: Kris Ann once had a fair fish that lived for 10 years. RIP Peanut Butter.

Loving all this pink.

The colors are insane! My favorite from the first set!

This will be the only b&w of the day/night.

Whats a fair without a carousel?

Jamie & Eamon let me buy them a round. Although standing backwards and shooting made me a little dizzy.

Time for a wardrobe change and some ridiculously good good light. That lens flare in the right image is just nutty.

This is about as close to the ferris wheel I could get Eamon to go.

Since I took care of that dude I wasn’t done with the bubbles just yet!

Yum!

I just love these next 5 images.

One of my favs.

The lights and colors are perfect.

What an awesome shot. #1 fav from this series.

I dont know if they were smiling at me or laughing at that damn carny talking all that smack about marriage behind me.

The blue light is always good stuff.

And finally, my token “bling shot”.

What’s up party people? This past weekend Tracy & Matt tied the knot and as blog fan and often commenter Cornelius would say we absolutely “crushed it”. Seriously I’m sick of this rain trying to cramp my style. Speaking of that, nice try Mother Nature but I got your number. Yeah you might have rained for pre ceremony photos but you were no where to be found come 5:00pm when we were out on the street on the yellow lines doing our thang. Maybe it was the size of Tracy & Matt’s bridal party that scared you or the fact that your simply rained out. LOL. Right now you all reading this might be thinking to yourself “What’s wrong with JP? Has he gone mad?” No I just felt like talking some smack to good ol Mother Nature. On with the post….

So like I said above when we arrived at Tracy’s parents house for the pre-ceremony pics and the rain followed us there. It didn’t matter because we shot out on the porch well covered and still in the daylight. Tracy was looking stunning and her gown was beautiful. Shortly there after we headed to St Thomas in Delmar where Matt was waiting rocking a nice new time piece from his bride to be, Tracy took notes ladies. During the mass it stopped raining and Father James Walsh made mention of that in his opening words. However, by the time they came down the aisle as newlyweds that pesky Mother Nature brought them some more good luck rain. It was only about a 20 minute shower which gave us time to shoot the formal photos at the alter. Earlier in the week I spoke to Tracy as I do all brides the week of their wedding and she mentioned how bad she wanted to stop at this sunflower field. As you can see by the header image above we made it. But I’ll be honest, I thought we were going to have to scrap those plans. Tracy & Matt were game so that means Big Joe, awesome videographer Al Woodard & myself were. This road we went out to has been bookmarked in my GPS for further shoots. What a beautiful spot! Since we had a lot of rain earlier in the day the “sun” flowers were kinda droopy but that didn’t matter because on the opposite side of the street was one of the most awesome color palettes so far this season and its not even October yet. We did all of our shooting on the road since the grass was wet and what not so in between dodging angry motor vehicles and what not and risking my life at times on the double yellow lines I couldn’t be more happier with the images we came home with. I’m tooting our own horns here, we crushed it. So then it was off to The Franklin Plaza in Troy and the room was looking good. See for yourself in the images below. As if the photo booth wasn’t enough entertainment for the night Body & Soul rocked the house. There’s something to be said about Franklin Plaza weddings and never leaving hungry and this is true. If any of these guests thought they were still hungry on their way out they could have grabbed a slider which were brought out and pretty much cooked to order around 11pm. The food never stops at the plaza. So let me just take a minute to thank Tracy & Matt for being an awesome couple and keeping their heads up during the rain, we’re so glad the sun peaked out for a little bit.

Enjoy, leave love,
JP

We’ll set it off with some sweet b&w’s

Tracy may have been looking out the window at the rain coming down but look at her smiling.

She’s got some great eyes!

Loving this shot of Tracy and her Father.

Nice, clean, good ol fashion bride & groom photos.

Tracy gave Matt a fly Breitling time piece.

And Matt gave Tracy some beautiful ear piece’s ;)

And Tracy’s Father gave them some Grey Poupon for their Bently.

Now its time to have some fun…

Seriously, look at this color palette! This is one of my favs here.

This one is just cool.

I caught you Matt… How’s that ring feeling? BTW, we don’t set shots like this up. It just happened.

How bout this one? Sweeeeeet!

So I photographed them in the urban street on their engagement session.

And the country road did just fine on their wedding day.

Another top fav.

The next two are the classic Elario double angle. My shot..

Big Joe’s from above.

The room was looking awesome.

This is another fav of mine.

I can smell the onions!

Ah the photo booth… This is becoming the one of our most popular options lately. So this past weekend Tracy & Matt decided they wanted a photo booth. The pictures we came home with were crazy to say the least. I think we ended up somewhere around 400 and some odd images. It’s just fun because people seriously get nutty as the night goes on. The later it gets the better the photos seem to get and I think this little four minute and fifty second video is a good representation of the evenings images. Keep in mind I’m only showing about 30% of all the images from Tracy & Matt’s photo booth and picking and choosing was tough. So sit back and enjoy this little video. If any of you Elario brides are interested in a photo booth holler at your boy ;)

Enjoy, leave love. Let me know what you think.
JP